A review by jaredwsaltz
Heat Wave by Richard Castle

4.0

My first straight-mystery in awhile. Agatha Christie it was not, but it made up for it with the pleasant familiarity of reading a more polished form of the TV show, Castle. For those who don't know, the ABC crime drama Castle has been quite the hit--the family and I love it. The show revolves around a best-selling mystery author who follows around a police detective for inspiration in order to write a book. This is the book he wrote. In fact, if you look on Amazon the author is noted as "Richard Castle," and shows a picture of Nathan Fillion. So, in reality you're reading a book about a fictional detective based on a real detective who's actually a fictional detective in a TV show. Think about it for a second. You'll figure it out.

So, I was unsure what to expect. The tv show is all about the relationships, not the murder mysteries themselves, so I was somewhat trepidatious about this one. However, I shouldn't have been. It was excellent. Again, I will note I'm not a purveyor of modern mystery, but this one kept me guessing--something no tv show-quality mystery has ever done--and I found the book very enjoyable. But what sold it was that it FELT like I was reading a book about the characters in the TV show. It was fantastic. Ultimately, I'm not sure how it would read if I wasn't a fan of the tv show, but as a fan I loved it.

Brava, Castle--whoever you really are--brava.